5 Ways You Must Be Using LinkedIn To Grow Your Traffic And Sales

LinkedIn is a social network platform that’s designed to be more professional and targeted to individuals, companies and groups who are more interested in pursuing their own areas of interest. Unlike in Facebook, members of this social network platform are able to show their career and professional profiles more rather than their personal details, and at the same time they can connect with other members who share the same skills and interests.

LinkedIn is also a good platform in boosting traffic and sales for your business. Among many things, LinkedIn is where you can find individuals and groups that can help you in expanding your business goals, and as well meet potential partners, clients and even employees.

So how can you use LinkedIn to grow traffic and sales? Here are 5 effective tips:

1. Start with your profile.

The first step in using LinkedIn to grow your business is by creating a stunning profile. This not only includes your own profile as a person, but also your company’s. This step is very important as having a killer profile makes your membership more credible to your prospective contacts and connections, as this is the first page that they will check out before agreeing to do business with you.
What does it mean to create a killer profile? Well, you need to show the important details about your company, from its goals and visions, its products and services, and how it wants to change the way its industry does business. You may also want to include the accolades your brand has already achieved since it started operations, from becoming a competitive name in the industry and other related awards.

Part of having an impressive profile is a list of the company’s brains-you and your partners in the business. Each of you and your partners, and the top officials of the company should also be present on the brand’s profile, and you all should have your own respective personal LinkedIn profiles too. This is to establish your presence in the network, as other members will not only connect to the brand itself, but to you as well.

2. Join groups.

LinkedIn has groups and communities similar to that of Facebook. However, the discussions are more specific and industry-related, thus you will be hanging out with fellow entrepreneurs, industry experts, and as well as other individuals who are active in the said industry.
Joining groups is very important if you want to grow sales and traffic for your business. These are the places where you can introduce yourself and your company, including the goods and services that you provide to your market. From these groups you can engage with conversations, show them what you’ve got, and invite them to check out your offers.

Groups are also where you learn about the industry you chose to be in. Many of the most active members of these groups are industry experts, so you can ask questions, share ideas, and even solicit suggestions on how to improve your business.

3. Gather new connections

If you have already joined targeted groups, then you may also want to increase your connections too. You may start with contacts you already know, such as friends who also happen to be on LinkedIn, past and current clients, new people you’ve met on the platform.

You may also add other members on the groups you’ve joined in, but you may want to take extra caution when trying to connect with them. When sending a connection request, you may want to include a message introducing yourself and your business, so that they would know you’re legit.

4. Update your profile status regularly.

If you’re going to utilize LinkedIn to increase traffic and sales, then you should be an active member of the platform. You can do this by updating your status regularly, both that of your company’s profile and your personal page.
By staying update, visitors of your profile are able to see that you are indeed active in LinkedIn, and that you can be easily contacted if ever they need your services. An updated profile also makes your brand more credible in terms of operations, thus others would be more enticed to check out your brand’s website or keep in touch with you from time to time.

It would also help to share your updates on the groups you’ve joined in, so that other members are kept aware of the latest highlights taking place in your business.

5. Use the blog app.

Yes, LinkedIn has a blog app, and you may want to utilize its features in order to bring in more traffic to your site. This may take extra work, but you can use the blog to publish your best articles and then share them to exclusive members of the LinkedIn network. You can insert links to your site on your blog posts so that readers would be able to check out your site after reading your articles.
Using the blog is one of the best ways to build an audience on LinkedIn. If you provide high quality articles, these will be read by the members who are part of the niche industry your brand belongs, and this will give them an idea of what exactly your business has to offer.

You can also create your own following on Linkedin; you can set up your own group and invite your connections to join, so that they will be regularly updated about your blog posts, engage in discussions, and send you feedback from time to time.

Using LinkedIn to increase traffic and sales to your site can be a great way for you to penetrate the online market. This is because the platform takes you to the more respected personalities of your chosen niche, something you can never achieve on Facebook or Twitter. These personalities can serve as your potential clients, partners, or even advisors; they can also introduce you to their own connections to expand your audience reach.

By reaching out to targeted audiences on LinkedIn, the more quality traffic your site gets, which then leads to more significant increase in sales.

Brock Hamilton is an author and owner of the Simple Website Tutorials website which is dedicated to teaching people how to build their own websites through free online tutorials and training. Follow him on Google+, Facebook and YouTube.

I’m planning to set up a blog and market some affiliate products but I think the number one concern is getting the sales. After reading your post, I think LinkedIn will be a great way to create sales opportunities. LinkedIn will be my first step and the Blog App will be the bonus feature to make use of. Thanks for the post.

Thanks for this post! I never kept up with the social media craze, but now that I’m trying to get into working with an online business I’ve been left trying to figure out whats what in all this Linkedfacetwit+ stuff. Some pretty good tips here for someone that isn’t familiar with the platform at all.

I’ve been considering using LinkedIn. I’m currently keeping an eye out for a new job as my current one isn’t very secure. I never knew it could be used in ways like this too. It might be a good idea for me to set up a profile for each purpose.

I have used LinkedIn for a few years primarily to network and find new leads. I was unaware of all of the features that it had offered. I have had a lot of issues with keeping it updated, but know that I better understand this I can now better utilize it to its full potential.

I have a question about #3. I understand that it’s important to have a lot of connections, but shouldn’t your connections mean something- like you actual worked with them in a professional setting? I’ve always been a little hesitant to just add people because I know them (like you might on Facebook). How do you strike a balance between quality and quantity in regards to LinkedIn connections?

@sjones, #3 doesn’t imply that users add just anyone to their LinkedIn accounts. However, if you are using LinkedIn groups effectively and are in conversation and have made connections with industry professionals then there may be an opportunity to work with them in the future. Its a great way to build a strong network.

This platform has been around for a while, and I used to think of it as being useful primarily for brick and mortar businesses. This article has some excellent tips on how to make LinkedIn useful for internet businesses. I especially like the recommendation to use their blog app. When you start a blog to promote a business, a main concern is building traffic. With a strong following already established through the platform, this step would be much easier. Also, you made an excellent point in providing a word of caution about inviting other members of your groups. If done without the proper introduction, invitations could be harmful in establishing meaningful business connections.

Amazing post. I was aware of the linking and joining groups but never knew anything about the blog side at LinkedIn. Definitely, as you mention, the posts on LinkedIn will definitely help anyone who writes clear and expressive. No doubt, the content must be something special as LinkedIn is a special place where professionals hang around